Anthropic and IBM: AI Breakthrough and Record Stock Crash

The stock market has recorded a historic drop in shares of the technology giant IBM. The cause was the launch of a new tool, Claude Code, from the startup Anthropic. The AI has learned to work effectively with the COBOL programming language, which for decades was considered "untouchable" and a major source of stable income for IBM.

Rapid Fall of IBM Shares

The investor reaction to the neural network's capabilities was swift and devastating for the company. IBM shares plummeted 13% in a single day, an anti-record since October 2000.

During February, the company's shares lost 27% of their value; this is the sharpest decline since at least 1968. Bloomberg analysts say this is happening because AI threatens IBM's business model, which relies on the expensive maintenance of legacy systems.

How the Claude Code Model Mastered Cobol

The COBOL language remains the foundation for banking and government systems worldwide.

"Previously, modernizing a COBOL system required an army of consultants. Claude Code automates research and analysis – stages that accounted for the lion's share of all work," Anthropic stated. 

Effectively, AI turns the complex process of refactoring into a fast and accessible task, depriving IBM of its monopoly on expertise.

​IBM's Position: Mainframes Are More Than Just Code

Despite the panic on the exchange, IBM leadership remains calm. CEO Arvind Krishna reminds that their mainframes are, above all, a benchmark of security and performance, regardless of the language used.

Global Trend: The Era of "Vibe-Coding"

The IBM crisis is only part of a larger process. 

Investors fear the onset of the "vibe-coding" era, where AI allows ordinary users to create and protect software through a simple text request. This calls into question the need for massive developer teams and the purchase of traditional software.